The ELIA Networking Days, a Unique Language Industry Event

By Dimitra Hengen

As a CEO/business owner in the language industry I am always looking for opportunities to develop my own knowledge and grow my company so I took advantage of the opportunity to attend the European language Industry conference in Tuscany.

Elia’s ND Tuscany was held in Tuscany, a few miles from Florence, at Villa Medicea “La Ferdinanda”, built at the end of the 16th century and listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2013.

Elia organized its second yearly event with its Networking Days. This time, the three-day event offered opportunities of professional and business growth – thanks to a tested mix of workshops, sessions and networking events. The conference took place in a very unconventional setting: the Tuscan hills, just 24 km away from Florence. Close to it, surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, there is a traditional farm with an oilmill and a cellar producing extra-virgin olive oil and several types of DOC and DOCG wine, including the famous Chianti.

For the first time in Elia’s ND history, the event started on Sunday, with several outdoor activities aiming at making the most of the gorgeous surroundings. The program of the conference, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday offered several presentations

In his Keynote speech, Translation is more than a Convenience, Robert Lane Greene, a Berlin-based business correspondent for The Economist, explored the different methods of thought depending on the languages we speak. Robert Greene speaks nine languages and was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, where he earned an MPhil in European politics and society. Questions he asked were: Do different languages encode thought differently? What associations do people have with their languages? How do native and foreign languages work differently in the mind?

Jari Herrgard deployed a Lean Approach for Agile Localization for a streamlined process and other presentations explored technical issues and technologies pertaining to translation and localization. Inspired by the column with the same name in the Wired magazine, this innovative session Wired, Tired, Expired  discussed what’s in store for the future of the language industry (Wired), the things that are already becoming extinct (Tired) and what is already considered ancient history (Expired). This highly interactive session offered provocative thoughts for our industry’s past, present and – most importantly – future as we discussed the practices, tools, etc. that Language Service Providers will be using or should not be using any more!

Finally, ELIA’s conference gave us the opportunity to meet our European counterparts and exchange ideas, tips on business practices, and technology with  European perspective.   Sitting down with entrepreneurs in your industry who are all come from different horizons and talk for as long as you need to AND get honest feedback about your particular business issue is priceless.

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Tags: global events, language industry

Category: Alpha Omega News